The listing says AED 2,000,000. You have saved a 20% deposit. You are ready.
You are not. You are roughly AED 150,000 short, and you will find out on transfer day.
The fee that cannot be financed
Here is the thing nobody tells first-time buyers clearly enough: none of the transaction costs can go on your mortgage. Banks will not lend against them. The DLD fee, the agency commission, the trustee charges and every admin fee must be paid in cash, on the day, on top of your deposit.
On an AED 2,000,000 purchase with 20% down, that means roughly AED 400,000 of deposit plus around AED 150,000 in fees — about AED 550,000 in cash. Buyers who budget only the deposit are the reason transfers collapse at the last minute.
Where the money goes
- DLD transfer fee — 4% of the price. The biggest single item. On AED 2m that is AED 80,000.
- Agency commission — 2% plus VAT (resale purchases).
- Trustee office fee — around AED 4,200 plus VAT above AED 500,000.
- DLD admin, title deed and map — roughly AED 1,000 together.
- Mortgage registration — 0.25% of the loan, plus AED 290.
- Bank arrangement fee — typically 0.5% to 1% of the loan.
- Valuation — around AED 2,500 to 3,500.
- Developer NOC — AED 500 to 5,000 (resale only, usually the seller pays).
All in: expect 6% to 8% of the price for a cash purchase, and a further 0.5% to 1% once a mortgage is involved.
Work out your real cash requirement
The Dubai Property Purchase Cost Calculator itemises every fee and shows the total cash you need on transfer day — the number that actually matters.
Who really pays the 4%?
Historically the DLD fee was described as 2% from the buyer and 2% from the seller. In current Dubai practice, the buyer pays the full 4%, and standard MOU templates are written that way.
It is negotiable in principle, and some developers absorb part of it as an incentive. Read what your contract actually says rather than what you assume.
Off-plan is cheaper on fees — but not free
Buying off-plan from a developer removes several costs. There is no previous owner, so no NOC. Registration goes through Oqood rather than a trustee office, so the trustee fee disappears and the DLD admin charge drops sharply. The developer normally pays the agency commission rather than you.
Fees can fall from around 7.7% to roughly 4%. But the 4% DLD fee still applies — and the savings come bundled with the risks of buying something that does not yet exist. Cheaper fees are not the same thing as a cheaper decision.
Family transfers
Transfers between first-degree relatives — parent to child, or between spouses — attract a DLD rate of just 0.125% instead of 4%. On an AED 2m property that is the difference between AED 2,500 and AED 80,000. The transfer must still be registered properly and the relationship evidenced, and the rules on which relationships qualify are specific, so confirm with the DLD.
Before you make an offer
- Find out what a bank will actually lend you — not what a payment calculator suggests. Use the Mortgage Affordability Calculator, which applies the Central Bank's stress test.
- Add roughly 7% of the price to your deposit. That is your real cash requirement.
- Confirm the fee schedule with the DLD or your trustee office before committing — fixed charges vary and are revised periodically.
The buyers who get caught out are not the ones who cannot afford it. They are the ones who budgeted the deposit and stopped there.